


You Look Lovely Tonight

by Nazmuko



Series: Well you ain't no rose but potatoes flower, too [2]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Bad Pick-Up Lines, Dancing, F/M, fancy party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-02 15:29:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16307813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nazmuko/pseuds/Nazmuko
Summary: Scully wasn't sure what her mother did to talk Mulder into attending the fundraiser with her but he was there and he was wearing one of his better suits, being a perfect gentleman.





	You Look Lovely Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> This little oneshot is part of the series inspired by bad pickup lines. I hope you like it!

_I love my mother. I hate her ideas but I love my mother._

Dana Scully had already lost count how many times she had muttered the mantra over the course of the evening. The charity fundraiser was full of her mother's friends from the church, most of whom were always trying to pair her off to their sons and nephews. Thank heavens Maggie had also managed to talk Mulder into attending, and Dana made a mental note to find out what kind of dirt she had on her partner to make that happen. Said partner, however, had abandoned her twenty-three minutes ago, no, make that twenty-four, to answer a phone call. He'd gone to the backyard to have privacy.

Scully was still staring at the clock, fuming at Mulder, when a hand slid onto the small of her back. She jumped at first but soon recognized the touch and the cologne and relaxed into her partner's touch.

"Please tell me it's a work emergency and we have to leave," she whispered to Mulder, still keeping up the facade of a happy smile to the crowd.

"Sadly, no."

She turned to look at him, surprised. Much to her annoyance she noticed he had managed to mess up his tie some time during the call. He must have played with it while he was talking. 

"Just the Gunmen with some information," he replied and have her an amused look as she fixed his tie with a concentrated frown on her face.

"Must have been very important information if it took you half an hour and couldn't wait until Monday."

Satisfied with the tie for now, Scully brushed some leaves from his shoulder. "This is not a work suit, is it? It's one of your better suits."

"I'll have you know that there's no such thing as a bad suit in my closet. All I have is better and best."

"And you only wear the best to court and funerals."

"True. And to answer your original question... The actual message took about two minutes and the rest was gossip," Mulder answered her question. "Frohike thinks you look lovely tonight."

Scully raised an eyebrow, crossed her arms and tilted her head back to look at him. "I don't know which thought is more disturbing, that you described to him in detail what I'm wearing, or that he hacked into the security cameras and is watching us right now."

She glanced down at the simple black, knee-length dress she had chosen for the evening and smiled at the compliment, no matter whom it came from originally. The dress was nothing special but it was her favorite for some reason.

"Well in that case I won't elaborate. Anything in particular we should be doing right now?"

"Smiling at people," Scully said and waved back at Mrs Sanders on the other side of the room. She was an elderly woman her mother often helped with groceries. She also happened to have a grandson who was about the same age with Dana and recently divorced, a fact the lady had mentioned to Scully more than once already. She stepped back to Mulder's side, wrapped her arm around his waist and briefly leaned the side of her head against his chest.

"And reminding them what a wonderful cause we're gathering money for?" he asked as his arm found its way around her shoulders in return. 

"Exactly. But I would also appreciate if you stayed close enough to scare off the elderly ladies who are desperately trying to find me a husband."

"Ah. Undercover assignment as a bodyguard-boyfriend. I've got this. May I have this dance, milady? I promise to hold you inappropriately close and whisper dirty things in your ear."

She laughed at him and gave him a sideways glance. "What on earth does dirty talk have to do with convincing them I'm not interested in blind dates?"

"Nothing," he said with a grin. "But I want some fun out of helping you as well."

She smiled and shook her head.

"If your hand comes even close to my butt, I'm going to amputate it. Is that clear, Mulder?"

"I love how you say  _amputate_ instead of something like  _saw off with a blunt knife._ Like a proper doctor. I'm willing to bet you'd even give me anesthesia because I'm your favorite pain in the ass."

Scully wondered if they sold Valentine's Day cards with that endearment. She'd have to get one if they did.

"It can be a blunt knife if that makes you feel better."

He chuckled and offered his arm to her and with a roll of her eyes she accepted.

Scully had never really thought about her partner's early life at the Vineyard, but it was really showing now that he knew his way around a fancy party, and definitely around the dance floor. Despite his earlier comments he was a perfect gentleman with the positioning of his hands. 

When the song ended, they made their way to the bar to get drinks, and then mingled among the other guests. Mulder was charming the pants off the ladies and Scully suspected he alone was responsible for about half the money they gathered over the evening.

They spent a couple of hours alternating between the dance floor and chatting with people, all the way until the party started to wind down.

They were just heading towards the cloakroom when Maggie caught up with them.

"Thank you so much for coming," she said and pulled her daughter into a hug. "I know you don't much care for these events, Dana, but I'm glad you're here."

"Of course, mom. And it wasn't that bad."

Her mother gave her a knowing look and moved on to hug Mulder.

"Thank you, Fox. It was lovely to have you here tonight. I'll see you on Sunday."

She pulled back from the hug but kept her hands on Mulder's shoulders.

"Sunday?" Scully asked. 

"Oh, did I forget to mention? I invited Fox for dinner with us. He doesn't get home cooked meals often enough."

Scully raised an eyebrow and her partner gave her a shrug and a sheepish smile. Here she had been thinking that her mother had blackmailed her partner but it had been simple bribery all along. 

"Shall we?" Maggie asked and nodded towards the cloakroom. 

It was cold in the queue with the front door opening every few seconds. Mulder and Maggie were fine, both wearing long sleeves, but Scully was shivering in her sleeveless dress. She accepted his jacket with a grateful smile, slipped her arms in the too long sleeves and hugged herself to stay warm.

"It's so soft," she thought out loud as she rubbed her arms up and down.

"It's a special fabric," he commented offhand.

"Oh?" Scully turned to look at her partner. 

He leaned in to whisper in her ear: "It's made of boyfriend material."

Before she could decide whether she should laugh or punch him, her mother whispered in her other ear:

"He's not wrong, Dana."

That turned out to be an efficient way to wipe the smug grin from his face because his expression morphed into pure panic.

"Mom!" Scully yelped. 

And that's when she realized that her mother had just succeeded in what Scully had been trying to avoid all evening: she had arranged her daughter a date.

She closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. 

_I love my mother. I hate her ideas but I love my mother._

"Maybe it's my tongue you should cut off with a blunt knife," Mulder mumbled. 

"Amputate, Mulder. I'm a doctor, not a barbarian."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
